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natreviews
Just a nice piece of fluff. Fun fact, I actually read this when I was younger, but never ended up finishing the first season! It was so cool to rediscover it through GoodReads. When I looked it up and started reading a lightbulb clicked that I had read this already. I didn’t remember a lot of the details, but I recognized the majority of the characters.
Honestly, this is a 1.5/5, but GoodReads doesn’t do half stars. TLDR: watch Folding Idea’s A Lukewarm Defense of Fifty Shades of Grey for a basic overview of my thoughts.
Now, let’s get into this.
Firstly, I wanted to abandon this book after one very specific section, which I will get into. I didn’t. I knew superfans would say “well you didn’t read the whole book, so your opinion is invalid!!!” So, I finished it.
I will first start off with the abuse, and overall shades of bigotry, then go into the story itself.
The moment I wanted to put this book down is when Ana first mentions she felt abused. That she was assaulted by Christian spanking her. She felt she was beat and assaulted. The book seems to rationalize this action as okay because she was turned on by it. That’s not how assault works. If a person feels as if they are assaulted, then it’s assault. Real life court cases have thrown out rape victims cases on the account that their body got turned on. It’s utterly ludicrous and how then he says “can’t you just deal with it for me?” Like... no!
Let’s also quickly touch on how the word assault is used throughout this book. It seems like Erica thinks that assault can be used in a good light, which it can’t. If any other word can describe what she is feeling without using the word assault (because it has very heavy implications to it), then use that word. It’s like the unspoken rule in media, if you can use anything other than rape, don’t use rape.
Now, let’s touch on the shades of bigotry throughout this book. There is the obvious homophobia littered throughout, and one moment that was very transphobic. Even when this book was originally written including those things were starting to become really not okay to do (not saying that it ever was, but at points it was socially acceptable). Then the misogyny. How Erica hates woman in general, but blondes in particular. I’m pretty sure a woman who was blonde must’ve started dating someone Erica liked because there is legit no reason for all of the hate that she gives them. Even Kate, Ana’s best friend (and the best character in this book), gets grouped into this category.
Now the story. Yes, we all know this was Twilight fanfiction. Yes, it is pretty much a worse version of Twilight. As a fanfiction, you know there will be pretty much the same story there. The main problem is, this is no longer a fanfiction. Fanfictions get graded on a different scale. Some are masterful (Twist and Shout, for instance), and some awful (My Immortal, for instance). You have a lot of wiggle room in that genre. Here, once it gets turned into a book, you get graded on a novel scale. The main flaw is that no one was really allowed to edit this book. It has been said that the first editor was taken off after major disagreements with Erica.
The story is the first half of the first Master’s of the Universe. It reads pretty much like a story you cut in half. There is no climax, no real end. There is a beginning, but the rest of the novel is the rising action. There is no resolution at the end, and the climax hasn’t happened yet because this is the first part of a story. If real editing and re-writes were allowed then that basic plot structure would be there. I will also touch on continuity and writing style. Ana’s inner monologue is annoying. We all know that. A real problem is continuity. There was one section where Christian grabs Ana’s elbow, they share two lines of dialogue, he lets go of her hand to grab her elbow. See the problem?
There is also the issue of how the topic of BDSM is used. Not well. Erica has it in her mind that people who practice BDSM are broken, in need of fixing. No, not true. Also in a professional setting, a contract is put in place. They bring up the contract probably 8 times, but never take the 15 seconds after reading the contract to sign it. Then there is assumption that Doms have sex with their Subs. Professional Doms don’t. It doesn’t really apply to the story here, but just wanted to mention it since a lot of peoples introduction to BDSM was this book.
The rating. See, giving this book a 1 would be too low of a score. Why? If this story was in the hands of a better writer, then there is a really good erotic story in here. If you go beat-by-beat, the story isn’t half bad. There is a good erotic thriller or horror here. But because of the writing, you are left with a sociopath and a girl who was born yesterday, but down for anything. The sex scenes are actually the best part of this book. They are well written, and can be actually erotic, but the rest of the story has to happen. The rest of the story isn’t well written at all. Ana is confused by everything. I swear you could cut out half of the sentences on every single page and make Ana a more competent character and make a better story, doing no other edits, but that. So, it has potential. Giving this book a 2 gives it too much credit. It doesn’t deserve a 2. So a 1.5/5 it is.
No, I will not be reading the rest of the series.
Now, let’s get into this.
Firstly, I wanted to abandon this book after one very specific section, which I will get into. I didn’t. I knew superfans would say “well you didn’t read the whole book, so your opinion is invalid!!!” So, I finished it.
I will first start off with the abuse, and overall shades of bigotry, then go into the story itself.
The moment I wanted to put this book down is when Ana first mentions she felt abused. That she was assaulted by Christian spanking her. She felt she was beat and assaulted. The book seems to rationalize this action as okay because she was turned on by it. That’s not how assault works. If a person feels as if they are assaulted, then it’s assault. Real life court cases have thrown out rape victims cases on the account that their body got turned on. It’s utterly ludicrous and how then he says “can’t you just deal with it for me?” Like... no!
Let’s also quickly touch on how the word assault is used throughout this book. It seems like Erica thinks that assault can be used in a good light, which it can’t. If any other word can describe what she is feeling without using the word assault (because it has very heavy implications to it), then use that word. It’s like the unspoken rule in media, if you can use anything other than rape, don’t use rape.
Now, let’s touch on the shades of bigotry throughout this book. There is the obvious homophobia littered throughout, and one moment that was very transphobic. Even when this book was originally written including those things were starting to become really not okay to do (not saying that it ever was, but at points it was socially acceptable). Then the misogyny. How Erica hates woman in general, but blondes in particular. I’m pretty sure a woman who was blonde must’ve started dating someone Erica liked because there is legit no reason for all of the hate that she gives them. Even Kate, Ana’s best friend (and the best character in this book), gets grouped into this category.
Now the story. Yes, we all know this was Twilight fanfiction. Yes, it is pretty much a worse version of Twilight. As a fanfiction, you know there will be pretty much the same story there. The main problem is, this is no longer a fanfiction. Fanfictions get graded on a different scale. Some are masterful (Twist and Shout, for instance), and some awful (My Immortal, for instance). You have a lot of wiggle room in that genre. Here, once it gets turned into a book, you get graded on a novel scale. The main flaw is that no one was really allowed to edit this book. It has been said that the first editor was taken off after major disagreements with Erica.
The story is the first half of the first Master’s of the Universe. It reads pretty much like a story you cut in half. There is no climax, no real end. There is a beginning, but the rest of the novel is the rising action. There is no resolution at the end, and the climax hasn’t happened yet because this is the first part of a story. If real editing and re-writes were allowed then that basic plot structure would be there. I will also touch on continuity and writing style. Ana’s inner monologue is annoying. We all know that. A real problem is continuity. There was one section where Christian grabs Ana’s elbow, they share two lines of dialogue, he lets go of her hand to grab her elbow. See the problem?
There is also the issue of how the topic of BDSM is used. Not well. Erica has it in her mind that people who practice BDSM are broken, in need of fixing. No, not true. Also in a professional setting, a contract is put in place. They bring up the contract probably 8 times, but never take the 15 seconds after reading the contract to sign it. Then there is assumption that Doms have sex with their Subs. Professional Doms don’t. It doesn’t really apply to the story here, but just wanted to mention it since a lot of peoples introduction to BDSM was this book.
The rating. See, giving this book a 1 would be too low of a score. Why? If this story was in the hands of a better writer, then there is a really good erotic story in here. If you go beat-by-beat, the story isn’t half bad. There is a good erotic thriller or horror here. But because of the writing, you are left with a sociopath and a girl who was born yesterday, but down for anything. The sex scenes are actually the best part of this book. They are well written, and can be actually erotic, but the rest of the story has to happen. The rest of the story isn’t well written at all. Ana is confused by everything. I swear you could cut out half of the sentences on every single page and make Ana a more competent character and make a better story, doing no other edits, but that. So, it has potential. Giving this book a 2 gives it too much credit. It doesn’t deserve a 2. So a 1.5/5 it is.
No, I will not be reading the rest of the series.
TW for Hatchet: does mention attempted suicide.
I remember originally hearing about this book when I was in Grade 5... roughly 10 years ago. I never ended up reading it until now though (saw it on TikTok and it had my interest).
I wouldn’t necessarily label this as a kids book. I would say any kid 12-14+ could read it, about Grade 6. It reminds me a lot of New Adult, a sub-genre that is in between Young Adult and Adult. It has the writing more following Young Adult, but deals with topics and scenes that are more in the Adult category. I would put this as a New Teen book. The writing is very much aimed for tweens/young teens, but deals with things that would fall under more of the Teen category.
I also have to mention that this kid is waaay smarter than I would be if my plane crashed. I would’ve died long before he did.
The reason why I’m giving it a 4/5 is because the ending felt really rushed. You get the wrap up in the Epilogue, which is fine, but I just wish it didn’t end so abruptly.
I remember originally hearing about this book when I was in Grade 5... roughly 10 years ago. I never ended up reading it until now though (saw it on TikTok and it had my interest).
I wouldn’t necessarily label this as a kids book. I would say any kid 12-14+ could read it, about Grade 6. It reminds me a lot of New Adult, a sub-genre that is in between Young Adult and Adult. It has the writing more following Young Adult, but deals with topics and scenes that are more in the Adult category. I would put this as a New Teen book. The writing is very much aimed for tweens/young teens, but deals with things that would fall under more of the Teen category.
I also have to mention that this kid is waaay smarter than I would be if my plane crashed. I would’ve died long before he did.
The reason why I’m giving it a 4/5 is because the ending felt really rushed. You get the wrap up in the Epilogue, which is fine, but I just wish it didn’t end so abruptly.
This book is one I don’t want to even describe anything about the plot. The only thing I knew was that it was about Stockholm Syndrome (I saw it on a TikTok), and I picked it up. I vaguely remember the cover from my past, but never read it. I have to tell you, I’m glad I didn’t read it until now.
I would place this book in a relatively not known genre called New Adult. New Adult was supposed to be this new genre of book that had more adult themes, but in the writing style of a teen, and dealing with people around the ages of 16-22. This book falls under that.
This one is a hard read. The writing style makes it relatable, so you understand Gemma’s thought process the entire time, why she does what she does. It’s heartbreaking, but you can identify the moment when Stockholm Syndrome really sets in. This book is an excellent read.
TW: kidnapping, drugging, attempted suicide, stockholm syndrome
I would place this book in a relatively not known genre called New Adult. New Adult was supposed to be this new genre of book that had more adult themes, but in the writing style of a teen, and dealing with people around the ages of 16-22. This book falls under that.
This one is a hard read. The writing style makes it relatable, so you understand Gemma’s thought process the entire time, why she does what she does. It’s heartbreaking, but you can identify the moment when Stockholm Syndrome really sets in. This book is an excellent read.
TW: kidnapping, drugging, attempted suicide, stockholm syndrome
TW for the dark wife: rape and assault
I am going to be honest right away here: I am ignoring some of the spelling erors and the weird spacing issues. Every book I’ve read has had spelling errors, and the spacing issues (I have the physical copy of the book) are probably from formatting issues going from eBook to print. Not to mention I believe this is either self published or has a small publisher, so it also explains the formatting troubles.
I will tell you I love the story of Hades and Persephone. In all of its modern incarnations (this includes when the story takes place in a modern setting, or it shows hey, these two actually kinda have the hots for each other and Hades just didn’t steal Persephone), I haven’t found one yet that I haven’t liked. The fun twist of this one is what if it was gay, and Hades was a goddess. It could have come off super chessy, but it doesn’t. They pretty much acknowledge right when you meet Hades that this is the trope, and then maybe bring it up like 3 more times in the book, only really in relation to how Zeus has told lies and says that Hades is a man.
Yes, it does play fast and lose with the lore towards the end, but it really does stick close to the lore in the beginning. I love the transformation with Persephone. Was it a little rushed? Yes, but the book is only 260ish pages. Easily could’ve been 100 pages longer.
This story gives a lot of agency to Persephone. A lot of the time she takes a back seat in her own story. This novel goes from her perspective, and you learn a lot more about her and her struggles. You see her deal with issues and mess up sometimes, be unsure of her decisions, but gain strength from the first page to the last. I wish this book got a sequal, not telling the same story from Hade’s perspective, but maybe a continuation from her perspective (because this characterization of Hades is to die for... didn’t mean for the pun).
Also, who doesn’t love gays getting a happy ending??? I was originally going to rate this 4.5/5, but since it’s so rare to actually have a happy ending when it comes to LGBTQ2IA+ fiction, I’ll make this a 5/5.
I am going to be honest right away here: I am ignoring some of the spelling erors and the weird spacing issues. Every book I’ve read has had spelling errors, and the spacing issues (I have the physical copy of the book) are probably from formatting issues going from eBook to print. Not to mention I believe this is either self published or has a small publisher, so it also explains the formatting troubles.
I will tell you I love the story of Hades and Persephone. In all of its modern incarnations (this includes when the story takes place in a modern setting, or it shows hey, these two actually kinda have the hots for each other and Hades just didn’t steal Persephone), I haven’t found one yet that I haven’t liked. The fun twist of this one is what if it was gay, and Hades was a goddess. It could have come off super chessy, but it doesn’t. They pretty much acknowledge right when you meet Hades that this is the trope, and then maybe bring it up like 3 more times in the book, only really in relation to how Zeus has told lies and says that Hades is a man.
Yes, it does play fast and lose with the lore towards the end, but it really does stick close to the lore in the beginning. I love the transformation with Persephone. Was it a little rushed? Yes, but the book is only 260ish pages. Easily could’ve been 100 pages longer.
This story gives a lot of agency to Persephone. A lot of the time she takes a back seat in her own story. This novel goes from her perspective, and you learn a lot more about her and her struggles. You see her deal with issues and mess up sometimes, be unsure of her decisions, but gain strength from the first page to the last. I wish this book got a sequal, not telling the same story from Hade’s perspective, but maybe a continuation from her perspective (because this characterization of Hades is to die for... didn’t mean for the pun).
Also, who doesn’t love gays getting a happy ending??? I was originally going to rate this 4.5/5, but since it’s so rare to actually have a happy ending when it comes to LGBTQ2IA+ fiction, I’ll make this a 5/5.
3.5/5 for me.
I want to say that I have complicated feelings about this book. The best way I can describe it is expecting a 2 month beginner course on Asatru, and getting a week and a half crash course. It’s enough to get your interest, but is lacking detail on the main functions of the belief. It’s a book for a good start, but isn’t enough information to really learn and understand.
One of my main problems is there is no real pronunciation. Apart from Asatru at the beginning, there is no phonetic spelling, and when you’re dealing with words from Germany, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, etc. It’s really important to understand how things are pronounced.
I also struggle with how rituals are written. From my look into different rituals/spells, you have to do them pretty specifically (or with a well thought out guideline) to make sure you don’t mess them up and have them backfire. What I understood from this book is that you can kind of do what you want, but not all the time, and we aren’t going to explain what to do.
I don’t regret reading this book, but it turned out not to be what I was looking for.
I want to say that I have complicated feelings about this book. The best way I can describe it is expecting a 2 month beginner course on Asatru, and getting a week and a half crash course. It’s enough to get your interest, but is lacking detail on the main functions of the belief. It’s a book for a good start, but isn’t enough information to really learn and understand.
One of my main problems is there is no real pronunciation. Apart from Asatru at the beginning, there is no phonetic spelling, and when you’re dealing with words from Germany, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, etc. It’s really important to understand how things are pronounced.
I also struggle with how rituals are written. From my look into different rituals/spells, you have to do them pretty specifically (or with a well thought out guideline) to make sure you don’t mess them up and have them backfire. What I understood from this book is that you can kind of do what you want, but not all the time, and we aren’t going to explain what to do.
I don’t regret reading this book, but it turned out not to be what I was looking for.
Holy cow. Let me tell you, you don’t want to sleep on this book.
Right off the bat, I’m not saying anything about the plot. You think it’s going one way and then Part 4 takes a hard turn and things click into place. I’m still not fully sure about how things worked, but that doesn’t matter.
In a forward, Felix mentions how he actually re-wrote the book. It was originally published in 2014, then completly pulled and written again in 2017. That was the right decision.
Unlike Stolen Tongues, this book treats horror differently. The best way I can desccribe it is Stolen Tongues spreads the horror out, and has it be scary all through slow burn style. In the Devil’s Dreams had my scared within the first 9 pages, but after that, the scares were spread out. It wasn’t constant. It was more sad, and an intersting reflection on grief and acceptance.
I honestly hope he writes more books, because I will 100% read them!
Right off the bat, I’m not saying anything about the plot. You think it’s going one way and then Part 4 takes a hard turn and things click into place. I’m still not fully sure about how things worked, but that doesn’t matter.
In a forward, Felix mentions how he actually re-wrote the book. It was originally published in 2014, then completly pulled and written again in 2017. That was the right decision.
Unlike Stolen Tongues, this book treats horror differently. The best way I can desccribe it is Stolen Tongues spreads the horror out, and has it be scary all through slow burn style. In the Devil’s Dreams had my scared within the first 9 pages, but after that, the scares were spread out. It wasn’t constant. It was more sad, and an intersting reflection on grief and acceptance.
I honestly hope he writes more books, because I will 100% read them!
Honestly, this book wasn’t what I was hoping for.
I will start off by saying that Chris’s story isn’t a happy one. Contrary to what has been written, it’s obvious that mental health played a factor. No sane person does this. It has also come to light through his sisters book (but isn’t mentioned here) that his father and mother were abusive to them. Going in with that context, it’s really apparent that mental health played a huge factor.
Next, this is a guesstimate story. We don’t know what really happened on this two year journey apart from people he met along the way and his journals. A lot of this book is assumption making.
You can skip at least 5 chapters as they have nothing to do with Chris’s story. By the last 40 pages I just wanted the book to be done and I skipped chapters.
I think this story has been romanticized to be about man abandoning society and finding his true self. That isn’t what this story is.
I will start off by saying that Chris’s story isn’t a happy one. Contrary to what has been written, it’s obvious that mental health played a factor. No sane person does this. It has also come to light through his sisters book (but isn’t mentioned here) that his father and mother were abusive to them. Going in with that context, it’s really apparent that mental health played a huge factor.
Next, this is a guesstimate story. We don’t know what really happened on this two year journey apart from people he met along the way and his journals. A lot of this book is assumption making.
You can skip at least 5 chapters as they have nothing to do with Chris’s story. By the last 40 pages I just wanted the book to be done and I skipped chapters.
I think this story has been romanticized to be about man abandoning society and finding his true self. That isn’t what this story is.
I really enjoyed this retelling. It's not your traditional retelling (like The Dark Wife), but instead is a retelling of the Disney movie. This book does require you to go in having seen the movie (at least the animated one).
I enjoyed how they weaved all of the characters together. The end was kind of obvious in a big character plot twist. I enjoyed how Belle and the Beast seemed more human than their movie counterparts did.
This book also falls into a weird age category. There are some dark things in this book (murder, kidnapping, genocide, plague), but the core story is still the same. If I were to target an age group, I'd go to 13-15. Don't get me wrong, even adults can enjoy this story, but you can tell it's written for a more young to mid teen audience.
I enjoyed how they weaved all of the characters together. The end was kind of obvious in a big character plot twist. I enjoyed how Belle and the Beast seemed more human than their movie counterparts did.
This book also falls into a weird age category. There are some dark things in this book (murder, kidnapping, genocide, plague), but the core story is still the same. If I were to target an age group, I'd go to 13-15. Don't get me wrong, even adults can enjoy this story, but you can tell it's written for a more young to mid teen audience.
I remember first seeing the movie when I was young (maybe 12 or 13). It absolutely terrified me. Now, at 22 I decided to read the book. If young me read this, I would've been scared.
This is a classic in the making. The cult hit that is the movie really pushed the story to the forefront of peoples minds, and if they haven't read the book I highly recommend it.
This is a classic in the making. The cult hit that is the movie really pushed the story to the forefront of peoples minds, and if they haven't read the book I highly recommend it.